A view of the King James LeBron sweepstakes from Cleveland's vantage point

Joshua Gunter/The Plain DealerWhen the Cavaliers meet with LeBron James today, the theme of their pitch will center on this being his hometown and how well the team and the fans know and appreciate him.

With the Nets and Knicks taking part in the courting of Cleveland Cavaliers super-star James LeBron, there has been many local stories about NBA teams willing to throw astronomical sums of money at the young man. We were wondering, how Cleveland and Ohio is feeling about the whole process and the chance that they will lose their "hometown" guy.
Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer of Cleveland writes about today's meeting between King and the Cavaliers. Windhorst reports that the strategy is simple -- King is home and the team knows him best. Oh, and new coach Byron Scott --remember him -- says LeBron will lead a running team.

RATEDREX: Lowenbrau, you are missing the most obvious reason why LeBron has limited the recruiting process, and the reason is: he has already decided. I think LeBron made up his mind somewhere during the playoffs that he would sign with the Bulls. Only his loyalty to the Cavs has made him rethink that decision. I believe he met those other teams out of respect, and to see if they had an offer that he couldn't refuse.

If LeBron remains in Cleveland he will experience a backlash unprecedented in American sports, because it will appear as if he wasted everyone's time. If he signs with the Bulls, there will also be a backlash, but on a smaller scale. In time, people will get over LeBron's move, just like people got over Barry Bond moving to the Giants, Brett Favre moving to the Jets and Shaq moving to L.A.